Phony Photographer
by Martial Arts Master
Summary: This is SORT OF a dark fic. What I mean is that although something dark ALMOST happens, it doesn't really happen. But I rated this R anyway just to be safe. Also there's a challenge at the end of this fic. Please review!


Phony Photographer  
by Martial Arts Master  
Cardcaptors and all related characters are copyrighted by Kids WB, Nelvana, and TV Tokyo. This fic contains a challenge at the end of it. Also, this is a dark fic. To be more precise, there are elements of dark stuff, but nothing dark actually happens and there's a happy ending. Still, this isn't for little kids. So let the story begin!  
  
***  
  
It was Saturday in the summertime, and it was a beautiful day. No clouds in the sky, a comfortable 77 degrees, and the sun was shining. But Sakura was sitting in her room, thinking. She was thinking about Julian. She had admitted to herself that she had a huge crush on him. But how was she to get him to be interested in her?  
She didn't know what to do. Maybe she should get him a gift. No, romance brought about by gifts was no romance at all. She had to think of something else.  
"Mission control to planet Sakura!" someone said.  
"What on Earth?!" Sakura exclaimed, spinning around. She saw the familiar yellow creature with wings. She sighed in relief.  
"Oh, it's just you, Kero," Sakura said in a relieved turn.  
"Who were you expecting, Musashi Miyamoto?" Kero asked sarcastically. (Author's Note: Although I'm using the American version of Cardcaptors, I included this Japanese reference for all of you dub-bashers. In case you don't know, Musashi Miyamoto was a famous Japanese warrior.) "You looked like you were taking a vacation in la-la land!"  
"Sorry," Sakura said. "I was just thinking about something."  
"What about?" Kero asked. "You have almost all the cards."  
"It's nothing important," Sakura said, looking away.  
"Come on, spill it!" Kero said, arms folded, waiting.  
"No way!" Sakura said.  
"Fine, then I'll just figure it out for myself," Kero retorted. "Let's see...are you sick?"  
"No," Sakura said.  
"Did you get ripped off while buying something?" Kero asked.  
"No," Sakura said, the look on her face suggesting that she was getting impatient.  
"Are you worried you might fail while capturing the next card?" Kero asked.  
"No!" Sakura said, and now she looked a bit angry, silently telling Kero to stop prying. So Kero decided to use humor to cheer her up.  
"Are you secretly a werewolf?" Kero asked, not serious.  
At this, Sakura burst out laughing for about half a minute. She calmed down afterwards.  
"I suppose I'll tell you," Sakura said. "See, I have a crush on Julian, but I can't get him to notice me as anything more than a friend who happens to skate along the same route he and Tori bike."  
"You should do something about it," Kero said.  
"Well DUH!" Sakura snapped. "What did you think I was thinking about?"  
"Hey, sorry," Kero said. "You should relax. How about going to the beach?"  
Kero had meant that Sakura should relax at the beach, but Sakura misunderstood him and got a big smile on her face.  
"Hey, yeah!" Sakura said happily. "I'll get a tan at the beach, and then he'll notice me! Thanks Kero!"  
Sakura gave Kero a bear hug. The look on Kero's face was a mixture of confusion at being misunderstood and relief that Sakura cheered up.  
"Um, that wasn't EXACTLY what I meant, but you're welcome," Kero said.  
Sakura released Kero and ran down the stairs excitedly. She was about to go into the kitchen where her father was cooking lunch when her brother Tori walked up to her.  
"Whoa, you seem happy, squirt," Tori said. "What's the occasion?"  
"None of your businees, Tori," Sakura said, but the smile didn't leave her face.  
"I bet it's something stupid like something happened with your imaginary friend or something," Tori said, but Sakura didn't hear her, having already gone into the kitchen.  
Her father was cooking sushi for lunch. He turned around and noticed Sakura, then noticed her happy mood.  
"Looks like somebody got up on the RIGHT side of the bed this morning," her father remarked with a chuckle. "What's up?"  
"Dad, can I go to the beach with my friends?" Sakura asked.  
"I don't see why not, as you don't have school and it's such a beautiful day," her father responded.  
"Yippee!" Sakura said, jumping up into the air. She landed and gave her father a big hug, ran upstairs to get her one-piece bathing suit, then ran downstairs and into the bathroom to change into her bathing suit.  
Tori walked into the kitchen.  
"Your sister's looking remarkably cheerful," his father said to him.  
"I think she's weird," Tori said.  
"Now come on, you don't mean that," his father said.  
Before Tori could reply, Sakura ran out with a T-shirt and shorts over her bathing suit.  
"Dad, do you have any pieces of sushi ready?" Sakura asked.  
Her father chuckled and handed her the pieces that were already ready.  
"Thanks!" Sakura said. Before she ran out the door, she took out her cell phone and made some calls to her friends.  
  
Later, at the beach, Sakura, Madison, Rita, Nikki, and Chelsea were lying in deck chairs at the beach on the sand.  
"Ahhh, it's nice to be at the beach," Chelsea said. "And especially without my cousin Zachary around. I swear, I'm getting sick of his made-up stories."  
"Yeah, he'd probably have made one up about the origin of beaches," Madison said, which got a laugh out of everyone.  
"Hey, isn't it strange that we're the only ones on the beach?" Rita asked.  
"Huh?" Sakura asked, and looked around. Sure enough, they WERE the only ones on the beach. She couldn't see anyone else anywhere.  
"You know what I heard?" Nikki asked. She didn't wait for an answer before saying, "I heard that the reason this beach is deserted is because some rapist is on the loose, and the females are afraid of being his next victim. The males don't come because the rapist was known to kill males rather than rape them."  
"A WHAT?!" everyone else asked in shock.  
"A rapist," Nikki said smugly. "He was supposed to have escaped from jail recently, and he was known not to care what age his victims were."  
"Oh, gross!" Madison said.  
"Oh, I'm sure it's just a story," Nikki said.  
"Yeah, let's not think about that now," Rita said.  
"Good thinking. I want a tan," Sakura said. Inwardly, though, she was worried. Suppose the story was true? Suppose the rapist WAS on the loose?  
Sakura shook her head and forced herself not to think about such thoughts. It was probably just a rumor anyway.  
"Hey, who's that over there?" Chelsea asked, pointing to someone.  
Everyone looked and saw a man with a camera, presumably a photographer. Seeing them looking at him, he waved and ran up to them.  
"Hi girls," he said.  
"Uh...hi," Nikki said. "Who are you?"  
"I'm a photographer," the man said. "My name is Brandon."  
"Um...nice to meet you," Sakura said, unsure whether she should be talking to him. After all, one of the lesson her father had taught her was not to talk to strangers. Usually she took her father's lessons to heart. But this man didn't look dangerous.  
"Anyway, is it ok if I take pictures of you girls? I need pictures for the magazines I work for," Brandon said.  
"Wow, a picture of me! Sure, that'll be great!" Rita said.  
"Ok, I'm in! I've always wanted to be famous!" Madison said.  
"Um...ok," Nikki said. "What harm could it do?"  
"Yeah, sure," Chelsea said.  
Sakura hesitated.  
"Aw come on, what's the matter?" Brandon asked her. "There's no harm in getting a picture taken of you."  
"Oh, ok," Sakura finally said.  
"Splendid!" Brandon said. He got the girls into different poses, and took pictures of them.  
Afterwards, he said, "Good. I've chosen two of you to be in my magazine."  
This got the girls excited, and they couldn't wait to hear which two.  
"First, I need to hear your names," Brandon said.  
The girls gave him their names.  
"Well, Sakura, Rita, congratulations!" Brandon said. (Author's Note: You didn't think I was gonna be predictable enough to make the two Sakura and MADISION, did you?)  
Sakura and Rita cheered, while the other girls clapped good-naturedly.  
"Madison, Chelsea, Nikki, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave the beach," Brandon said. "I have to make a call, and company policy dictates all calls to the magazine must be kept a secret from all but those who are gonna be in the magazine."  
Madison, Chelsea, and Nikki reluctantly left the beach. With only Sakura, Rita, and Brandon their, Brandon got a satisfied look on his face.  
"Good, that takes care of them," Brandon said. "Now there will be no witnesses."  
"Witnesses to what?" Rita asked. A chill went down Sakura's spine, she didn't like the way Brandon called her friends witnesses.  
Suddenly Brandon roughly slammed Rita down on her head, knocking her out. Then he turned to Sakura.  
"You shall be first, you fifth-grade piece of MEAT!" Brandon said, lunging at Sakura.  
Sakura screamed and jumped out of the way. Brandon was the rapist! Nikki had been right! The rapist WAS on the loose, and Sakura was face-to-face with him!  
Sakura tried to run to the exit of the beach, but Brandon was too quick for her. He leaped at her and pinned her on her back. His arms were pinning her arms and his legs were pinning her legs.  
"Let go of me you creep!" Sakura said, struggling to break his grip.  
"Why? This is the last opportunity to lose your virginity until you're a teenager!" Brandon said, reaching towards the straps of her bathing suit, intending to take it off.  
Suddenly Sakura brought her legs violently upwards, dislodging Brandon's legs and kicking him in the groin at the same time.  
Brandon squealed like a pig, letting go of Sakura's arms. Sakura got up and made a decision. She would use a Clow Card to get rid of this disgusting pervert. After all, who would believe Brandon if he said something resembling a spirit beat him up?  
Sakura concentrated, transforming the key around her neck into her wand.  
"What the hell?" Brandon asked, shocked by the transformation. "You're a witch!"  
"Not exactly," Sakura said, then shouted, "Watery! Release and dispel!"  
Sakura took out a card from the card case she always carried and hit the card with her wand, and out came the Watery spirit.  
"HOLY SHIT!!!" Brandon exclaimed. "It's a monster!"  
"Watery card, get rid of this creepo!" Sakura commanded.  
The Watery spirit transformed into a gigantic hammer made of water.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Brandon screamed, but it was too late. The Watery spirit slammed Brandon into the sand, knocking him unconscious just as he had earlier done to Rita.  
"Good job! Return to your power confined!" Sakura shouted, putting the Watery spirit back in the card. Sakura put the card back into the card case and transformed the wand back into a key.  
Just in time, too, for Rita woke up just then.  
"Ohhhh...what happened?" Rita asked groggily.  
"You must have dozed off. I saw you twisting and turning like you were having a nightmare," Sakura fibbed, not being stupid enough to tell Rita about her Cardcaptor status.  
"Oh, so that's all it was," Rita said groggily. "But I have a huge headache, which I guess my nightmare must have incorporated into my dream."  
"Here, let's get you home," Sakura said. She helped Rita up and led her off the beach.  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
I know this fic was slightly darker than usual, but I'm the kind of author that writes ideas down as soon as they come to me. I mentioned a challenge earlier, so here it is: There are a bunch of Sakura+Li fics, so my challenge is for you authors out there to write a Sakura+Julian romance fic. That's all. E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@msn.com. 


End file.
